String-gage



(No Model.) 2

G. F. ALBERT.

STRING GAG-E.

No. 337,224. Patented Mar. 2, 1886.

Wilmesses I Inventor fin :4 'C /l/arhs F-./ZZ5 6I'Z 804m m ATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. ALBERT, OFPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

STRING-GAGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 337,224. dated March 2, 1886.

Application filed December 1'2. 1885. Serial No. 185,497. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES F. ALBERT,-a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented a certain Improved String-Gage, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to so construct a gage for the strings of a violin, viola, violincello, orgother stringed instrument that the proper sizes or weights of the strings for any given instrument can be readily determined.

The views in the accompanying drawings are, for the sake of clearness,drawn to a somewhat larger scale than the actual device itself, Figure 1 being a face view of my improved gage, Fig. 2 a perspective view of the same, and Fig. 3 a view of a modified form of my improvement.

In the violin and similar stringed instruments it is of considerable importanceto have the strings properly balancedthat is, that they should be ofthe proper relative size and weight. The E and D strings ofaviolin, forinstance, should be of a certain size and weight relative to each other and to the A and G strings, the two latter being of the same size and weight. So far as Iam aware, this determination of the relative sizes and weights of the different strings has always been left to the judgment of the user, for, although string-gages have been heretofore made, they have been of little or no assistance in determining what the relative sizes and weights of the strings of any given instrument should be. I have provided a gage, however, which is divided up into sets, there being aseparato set of notches or slots for each different string. For a violin the gage may have three sets of slots, one set for the D-string, another set for the E-string, and a third set for the A and G 0 strings, which are alike.

In the gage shown in the drawings notches are provided in the edges of the gage-plate for four different sizes of strings, the difierent notches in each set being marked 1 2 3 4. There the E-string, forinstance, of an instrument is of a size or gage to fit the notch l ofthe E set, the user will know that he should have the D and theAand Gstrings to fit the notches marked 1 of the corresponding sets. So where the A-string of an instrument fits the notch marked 3 in its'set,the other strings should fit the notches marked 3 in their respective sets. By this means strings of proper relative sizes can be readily chosen, so that a proper balance will always be insured in theinstrument to chord the true fifths.

If the pressure of the strings is not equally balanced or divided when tuned up, an unevenness in tone and an uneven strain on the instrument result, and in many cases some notes can scarcely be brought outtruly and clearly, especiallyin fingering fifths; but by the use of my gage, wi th its notches or slots arranged in proper relative sets for the different strings, a proper balance is always insured.

I claim as my invention A gage for the strings of a violin or similar i instrument having its measuring-notches in separate relative sets for the separate strings, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof Ihave signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

OHARS. F. ALBERT.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM F. DAVIS, HARRY SMITH. 

